Vacation is over!

Well apparently my attempt at a schedule goes right out the window when Walter is on vacation!  The first week was what we referred to as 'renocation' since Walter was working on the upstairs bathrooms getting the new gyproc up and painting etc.  Then the second week we went to Prince George for six days.  Of course two of those days were driving days but growing up here we're both ALWAYS up for a road trip!  That's half the fun.

So what did we do in PG you ask?  Well other than doing wonders for the PG economy shopping wise for things we cannot get here in town we went out for dinner...a lot.  Tuesday we met up with friends Tracy and John at a great little place on Third Avenue called Nancy O's.  If you haven't been there you should check it out.  Great atmosphere, great food, great service and reasonable prices!

One day we did a mini-road trip within a road trip.  We drove two hours southeast of Prince George to the town of Barkerville.  It is a Gold Rush Town and was at one time the largest 'city' north of San Francisco and east of Chicago I believe.  If you haven't been there, it is worth going.  If like me you haven't been there since 1969 it's worth going again!  We panned for gold with the five-time World Gold Panning Champion.  We checked out numerous buildings and had lunch in the Lung Duck Tong restaurant.  We really did have a fun day.  We took about 500 pictures between us so I'm sure we looked like the tourists we were.

I find it amazing how digital photography has changed my world.  I used to sweat over every picture I took knowing that I had to pay for developing and then printing.  Even worse was that you'd pay for developing just to discover that half the pictures were garbage!  For the last 12 years I've had a digital camera.  Actually I've had two Nikon Coolpix camera and they have both been amazing.  Having said that I was ready for something beyond point and shoot.  So my really big purchase was a Nikon B5200 package from London Drugs.  I am so excited to use it.  I've read the manual and discovered I was supposed to read it BEFORE I charged the battery and put it and the memory card in their respective places.  Oh well!  The upside is that I did it right!  Yay me!

Well that's it for today.  I hope you've all been well and are enjoying life!

We all know that ONE person...

I'm pretty sure that I am not alone in this.  You know THAT person right?  The one who seems to take pleasure in other people's misfortune?  He or she probably won't say anything to you if it is you going through something, but I can pretty much guarantee this person is telling everyone else.  That is why it is so important to choose who you share information with.  I used to be an open book.  I still am in many ways.  I mean seriously, I write about my life and anyone with an internet connection can read it.  But I have discovered over the years that there are a few people who I've pulled back from.  People I thought were friends but discovered that mainly they just like to be the first to know things.  Those are also the people who ask you questions about other people.  It usually goes like this.

Them - "Did you hear about Susie?"
You - "No"
Them "Well I heard...(fill in the blank)" and off it goes.

I never used to know how to deal with those situations, but now I do.  If someone asks me a personal question that I consider to be just that, personal, my response is "Why do you ask?".  That usually stops people in their tracks.  Or, if they're rude enough to say "Because I'm nosey" I respond with "That's not a reason for me to share".  I am coming to terms with the fact that just because I know someone doesn't mean they are entitled to know everything about me.  Nor am I entitled to know everything about them.  In fact, I have found that I have very little interest in knowing much about anybody else's life outside the circle of my family and closest friends.  Is this just a function of age?  I wonder.

Film at 11

Ok...so now I'm just writing things down as I remember them.  Our society has become so globally aware that we are inundated with news from all over the globe.  I personally find it too much to cope with on any sort of regular basis.  If I was able to avoid watching the news, without taking a lot of flack from people, I would be quite happy.  But I don't seem to be able to.  What this means is that last night I watched the news and heard about a young man, only 18 years old, who left his cell phone in a taxi and used the 'find my phone' app to figure out where it was.  Great app, it told him exactly where it was and he went to retrieve it.  The sad thing is that the men who had it murdered him over it.  The phone was recovered not half a block from where he died.  I was in tears over that story.  Then there was the story of a young woman crossing the street in Vancouver pushing a baby stroller.  They were hit by a large truck and sent to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.  Witnesses claim the young woman was text messaging while crossing.  Further stories indicate that the woman was not the mother but the nanny, who we can only assume is now unemployed and probably no longer employable as a nanny ever again.

I have to ask how these stories affect my life.  Why do I need to know them?  They both horrified me.  They both saddened me.  But neither of them affects my life directly.  Even though the young man in London, Ontario was killed just a block from my old home at Highbury & Brydges and the young woman and child were injured just a couple of blocks from my sister's workplace, I don't know these people or probably anyone related to them or the incidents.  I feel for all involved, deeply, but I don't think I have the emotional resources necessary to watch the news.

My promise to myself is that I am no longer going to watch the news regularly.  I will peruse the CBC website and cherry-pick what I want to know about.  Instead I am going to focus on the positive things in my life.  Like yesterday when the gentleman (and he truly is a gentle man) who owns the townhouse next to us was over cutting the lawn for his tenants and very generously offered to mow ours as well.  Thank you Mr. Jawanda for mowing our lawn, thank you for being a good neighbour but most of all thank you for putting the good news back in my day!  

Road trip!

So you know that the countdown is really on for vacation when the day you are leaving shows up on the iPhone weather app!  Today is Wednesday and we leave Monday...and according to Apple it will be sunny and 22C on Monday!!!!

Tell me something.  Does every one, every where just LOVE road trips?  Or is it a side effect for me because my parents came from Manchester, England and exploring their new country involved constant road trips?  Or is it because they moved us up north when I was 9 years old and to get anywhere from Terrace you pretty much have to drive for 6 hours?  I don't know the answer but I do know that I love road trips.  We're only going to Prince George for a few days but driving between here and there is so beautiful and somehow the scenery never gets old for me.  Even though I can anticipate pretty much every turn in the highway it seems new.  For instance, the other day I went on canada411.ca to see if there are any art supply stores in PG other than Spee-Dee Printers and it brought up a listing for a place called Process 4 Gallery in Burns Lake.  Now I've never noticed it and yet it's there!  So we're going to stop there on our way through and check it out.  I'm ALWAYS happy to find a new place for art supplies!

Well I'm off to get my day started!  Lots to do.  Have a wonderful day and enjoy yourself wherever you and whatever you're doing!

I DID IT!!!

Ok...so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself!  Admittedly, I didn't last long but it's about quality not quantity right?  ;)

I took my guitar out of its case and played!  I was able to play Aura Lee through three times without a mistake!  Woo hoo!  Many, many thanks to Greg for getting my guitar in shape for me and giving me the encouragement I needed!  :D

So now I need to be on the look-out for a music stand.  Although Walter just suggested that temporarily I try my little portable art easel!  Great idea!  I feel amazing!!!

Some days...

It is easier than others to write what I think.  In fact, when I lay down in bed I can think of DOZENS of things I want to write about.  I think it's time to start keeping a pen and paper in my bedside table to write things down as I think about them.

Our dog Shadow has a sore leg that he is favouring.  It's weird with pets because they can let you know that something's wrong but not exactly where.  It was so much easier with kids.  Well maybe not.  For years my eldest son would complain about a sore stomach before going to school.  I took him to the doctor early on in the process and it was decided that it was just nerves.  Which in the 80s was just what it was.  It wasn't until he was long out of school that he discovered a lactose intolerance.    :(   Yeah....didn't even figure it out when I had the dairy cow.  Lactose intolerance just wasn't really anything I knew about in the 80s.  Even after I had son number three in the early 90s lactose intolerance was generally thought to affect certain ethnicities.  Since #3's dad is half Chinese it was suggested by the doctor that I try him on soy formula.  Total no go!  He wanted good old-fashioned Similac!  Apparently it's the Caucasian kid who has the problem and the part Asian child is just fine with milk and all its wonderful by-products.  Who knew?!

  Ok...so I just called the vet's office about Shadow.  Apparently the way he is favouring it is indicative of a problem with the knee.  Off to the vet's tomorrow!  Woo hoo!  It's a party I tell you!

It feels weird that it is Tuesday already.  After having a foggy TBI headache day yesterday I feel out of whack.  It's weird how that happens.  I feel like my week is out of sync.  Actually I feel like my brain is out of sync.  Of course it's felt that way more than it hasn't for a long time now.

So since my friend Greg re-strung my guitar for me I went and found my guitar lesson books.  The neuropsychologist in Winnipeg that Manitoba Public Insurance hired suggested that I receive art or music lessons to help my memory.  So MPI hired some guy to teach me guitar back in 2008 or 2009 suggest.  He came to my home 5 times out of the 8 lessons he was booked for.  He would cancel for various reasons.  I think that combined with the fact that he required me to learn to read music was probably why I didn't progress like I had hoped to.  But...the books are out and I'm ready to go!  I'm going to get myself back to it and hopefully with Greg's help and encouragement I will get back to playing regularly.  Think good thoughts!

Have a wonderful day and no matter what you're doing, make the most of it.  Today is THE day!

Happy Little Clouds

Ok...I just have to share this remix of Bob Ross' painting.  Click here to watch Happy Little Clouds.  My friend Cheryl in Hawaii tagged me in it and I am SO glad she did.  It brought a smile to my face on a day when I am struggling to get past one of my brain injury headaches.  Thanks Cheryl!

Monday's child is fair of face...

It is such a beautiful day outside already!  I had a great weekend.  It was quite busy but really good!  On Saturday I decided I was going to use the smoker to smoke the beef ribs I was making for our dinner guests and went in search of recipes since I'd never used the smoker before.  Well, it turns out you can actually cook the ribs the whole way through!  I did a dry rub first and then later in did the liquid barbecue sauce.  Put them on the bbq for the last few minutes just to give them some colour but oh my goodness...they were amazing!  It didn't occur to me that after 8 hours in the smoker the ribs would be SO moist and cooked to a perfect medium rare.  The corn on the cob turned out equally good.  Tender and moist but still crisp.  Let me tell you... on hot summer days when no-one wants to cook that smoker is going to be put to good use!  Simply amazing.  Next I'd like to try to cold smoke some cheese...maybe some gouda.  I do wish that it had the capability of a higher temperature because if it did I'd be using that puppy as an outdoor oven to bake challah and pizza~!  Oh well....perhaps I need to look around at other models!

I'd also like to thank Rachel and Greg.  Rachel for bringing G & T to dinner Saturday to ensure that I don't succumb to scurvy or malaria!  ;)  and Greg for re-stringing my guitar.  It plays beautifully now!  Not that it was me playing it, Greg is so talented.  Just amazing.

Yesterday was Kayla's baby shower.  Jade is the most complacent little baby I've seen in a long time.  She is only three weeks old and she was being passed around all over the place.  Not a single sound out of her.  She has so much hair I was shocked but then Joan brought out Kayla's baby picture at three days old and sure enough, that's where it comes from.  I honestly don't remember Kayla having that much hair!  Craziness!

So Walter is on reno-cation now.  He is upstairs right now finishing the vapour barrier after putting in all the insulation yesterday.  Everything is coming together wonderfully!
If everything goes to plan we will be heading to Prince George this time next week!

Well I've had two cups of caffeination so far and I think it's time to eat some breakfast, drink another cup of java and make my to-do list for the day.

Have a wonderful day all!

I LOVE my life!

After a lovely Shabbat dinner with friends at Vida & Alyssa's home last night I came home and slept wonderfully.  I didn't wake up until 8 a.m.  I got up, had breakfast and one cup of coffee and then Walter and I took our dogs, Ricky and Shadow, for a walk.  It is absolutely as much for me as for them.  Probably more!  I managed to walk 3 blocks north to Scott, one block over from Sparks to Eby and then back to Walsh again.  By the time we got home I was absolutely feeling it, but it's a good thing!  Now that I'm home I have the smoker set up outside and have dinner going already.  I got some beautiful beef ribs from Thornhill Meats the other day and they are going to not only taste amazing but the meat should just about fall off the bone by dinner time.  I have my potatoes cooking for potato salad and just found a recipe to cook corn on the cob in the smoker!  I am SO excited to try this!!!

Anyway, I still have housework to do but I think I'll go enjoy a second cup of coffee first!  :D

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Getting easier every day

So I have been trying really hard to build routine into my life now that I am mobile again. Today I feel like it's working.  Some things are as simple as showering and getting dressed first thing in the morning before I even look at the coffee maker.  Day five today and we have success!  Which was a little tougher because I'm trying to get over the last of this cold and even though I slept well last night I was not ready to get up when Shadow & Ricky decided it was time.  In their defence they were totally right!  It was 7:43 a.m. and by rights I should have been up and at it.  But just because they were right didn't make it any easier to get up!

After that I put away the dishes in the drain rack and then washed the dirty ones.  Then I knew I had to do some shopping but I was doing my darnedest to weasel out of it.  I'm so glad I didn't.  When I got to Save-On I ran into a friend who I hadn't seen for months.  I thought it was because of me but she shared that she is currently battling lymphoma cancer.  She was having a good day and so we shared a good chat and I thought to myself this is the reason I had to be here now.  Not later, not tomorrow, now.  It made me think how fortunate I am and how the old adage about living in the moment is so true.  So thanks to my friend for reminding me!

  So that's the additional challenge for today.... be loving and giving AND live in the moment!  

Friday's Child is loving and giving...

Wow....hard to believe it is Friday already! Just another couple of hours and Walter is on vacation for two weeks!  The first week will be 'staycation' or as I like to refer to it "finishing the bathroom reno-cation"!  Then we will head to Prince George for a week of shopping and visiting.  I'm looking forward to checking out the restaurant Nancy O's with my friend Tracy and her husband.  We met last year on the Mandala workshop we both, along with Tracy's daughter Danielle, took in Wells last July.

Vida is hosting Shabbat dinner for us this week so I made my challah dough yesterday.  Took it out of the fridge a couple of hours ago to let it start warming up and rising.  I love making bread.  There is something so basic about it and so satisfying.  I've actually made dinner from scratch the last couple of days so really nice to be treated to someone else's cooking tonight.  :D  Ok....so Wednesday was just beef barley soup and yesterday was barbecue in the slow cooker....but hey...it wasn't take-out!

Yesterday I took my car into Thornhill Motors for a check up.  I have to say that my little Subaru Forester is one great little car.  Cost me a whooping $70.33 for a full check-up as well as an oil & lube!  I thought for sure it was going to need a new muffler due to a rattle I kept hearing.  But no...it was just the heat shield spreading so they put a couple of screws in it and it's all good.  Great service and great price.  I'm a happy camper!

Oh yes and my friend Greg came by to pick up my guitar last night and he has already re-strung it and tuned it.  Next he's going to get my back into learning it.  I am SO excited!  I found that when I was using it regularly back in Winnipeg it was really good for me.  I become quite involved in it.  Time to build some more body memories for the brain to follow.        :D

Now that the kitchen is clean and I'm all ready to leave the house I think I'll go do some shopping and get that out of the way for the weekend.

Shabbat Shalom!  Have a wonderful weekend and even if you weren't born on a Friday give it a go....be loving and giving.  

Brain Injury - the benefits!

One for the gratitude journal

Short and sweet while I remember it.  One of the BEST things ever about a brain injury that includes memory issues - I can read the same book or watch the same movie over again and it's just like new!  How great is THAT?!

Creativity - friend or foe?

Isn't it amazing how many hang-ups we hold on to from childhood?  I mean, I know my parents did the best they could and I know that I did the best I could, but that doesn't mean we always got it, or continue to get it, right.

One of my personal hang-ups is in the realm of creativity.  I was taught from a young age that you either have it or you don't.  Apparently I don't.  So the best I could hope for as a way to express my creativity was to knit, cook and bake.  I eventually learned to sew when I was 30.  In reality I'd always wanted to sew but my grade 8 sewing teacher told me that I was 'useless' (her word - thank you Helen Piercy whatever rock you may be hiding under!) when it came to anything domestic and she would only pass me if I promised not to take sewing again.  Who does that to a 13 year old?  Seriously!  Anyway, I found a lovely woman named Lori Sirove when I lived in London, Ontario who taught me more in a 6 week sewing class than Helen taught me in months of classes.  By the time Lori was done with me I had not only completed a few projects but I'd bought my own sewing machine and serger and sewed happily for many years to come.

But even so, all the creative outlets that I felt were available to me were pretty much proscribed with predictable results.  Once I mastered the skill things could get boring - really quickly.  I have always wanted to paint but I knew I didn't have the creative gene for that so, as much as I wanted to I just left it alone.  I wasn't the artist in the family, that was my Mum.  Mum's niece, my cousin Jean, and her daughter Ruthie are both artists as well.  How lucky for them to have TWO people with the creative gene!  Why not my family?  Well guess what I discovered?  It isn't a gene at all!!!  Honest!  Apparently anyone can be artistic and there is a formula for getting there -it's called working at it!

I just read a great book by David Usher who you may know of as a Canadian music artist. It is called "Let the Elephants Run" and is all about unleashing your creativity.  It's great and he's got a wonderful style.  In it he points out that the people who are most successful are those who work at it.  Huh.  Just like everything else in life.  Who knew?!

So as I sit here surrounded by all sorts of paints, brushes and canvases I feel happy.  My definition of success is just that...being happy.  I'm not out to change the world or sell a painting a week, or even a year for that matter, I do it because I love the way I feel when I'm doing it.  When I do sell the odd painting, I tend to think of it in terms of what supplies I can buy with the money!

So, if you've been hanging around thinking that you don't have the creativity 'gene' think again!  Grab whatever you need to pursue your bliss and get out there and do it.  Do it today, do it tomorrow and do it the day after that.  Do it every day you can until not doing it is no longer an option.

Have a wonderful day!

Tuesday's child is full of...

Grace.....oh for heaven's sake...what were YOU thinking?!

So I am trying to break some old habits and build some new ones.  In order to do that I had to change up my entire morning routine.  Today is day two.  So far so good!

It's a gorgeous day here in Terrace.  The weather station says it will be 24C today but it's almost noon and only 16C and the hot temperature isn't supposed to kick in until around 3 or 4 pm.  Perfect!

I'm just getting over a bad cold.  Yesterday was the first day I left the house since the Wednesday before.  Every time I cough I sound like a seal barking, but it's getting better every day so all is good!  My voice sounds absolutely ridiculous though so it's providing entertainment for anyone I speak to!

It is Tuesday so that means lunch with my best friend Kelly.  You would think after 40 years we would have talked ourselves out but we aren't even close yet.  Love it!

I wish I could think of something interesting and exciting to tell you about, but sadly, nada.  Maybe later I'll get into something exciting like the fact that Canada Post isn't delivering our mail because there is construction on our block.  But hey...the upside is I get to walk downtown to the post office to pick it up.  No seriously, that IS an upside because I can WALK!!!  Pain free!  No mobility scooter, no walker, not even a cane!  How wonderful is THAT?!

Have a wonderful day.  Be good to each other and remember to love yourself first.

Day 473

Hahaha!  Gotcha!  I mean, I'm sure it is day 473 since SOMETHING happened but really just had no idea for a title and that popped into my head.  :D

So Walter and I are heading to Prince George for 5 days this month and I'm trying to research what there is to do and see while we are there.  Turns out not much.  :(  I guess there is a reason I always book the hotel with the hot tub and go shopping.  As an aside here, the last time we stayed overnight at our usual hot tub place in PG was in April a day or two after I was sprung from the orthopaedic rehabilitation hospital following my hip surgery.  After driving for a fair bit of time I wanted nothing more than to sink into that hot tub.  As we walked past the first tub we noticed it was closed off, but that was ok because we know there is a second one right outside our room.  Walter takes the luggage cart back and I race (very subjective term 3 weeks after a total hip replacement!) to unpack our swimsuits.  I'm about to put mine on when Walter returns and says not to bother.  Why not I ask?  Well apparently the first hot tub was closed due to someone's child urinating in it.  Yeah....well that's why we're using the one in front of our room right?  Uh huh....except another child has just dropped a deuce in that one!  When hot tubs first came out they all had signs saying you couldn't go in if you were under 16.  Now people take babies and toddlers in.  Do they not think about their child's health?  Children's bodies are so much smaller there is a serious risk of dehydration and heat stroke.  Let alone the fact that peeing and pooping in a hot tub is a really, REALLY bad idea.  Want to grow a science experiment?  Just have little Johnny or Susie pee in the hot tub and leave it.  At 104F you've got bacteria growing left right and centre!  Last but not least....there's a little kiddy warm pool over there.  No...it's not as much fun for mum and dad as the hot tub but guess what?  It's one of those things you do when you have kids so suck it up and take your kid to the age appropriate pool and leave the hot tub to the grown ups.